welcome to the hilton...please dont forget to tip your waitress

Brownms46 · Jun 14, 2002

Had a 47 old female in with CHF..serverly obese..and guess what?? She wore a depends!! Crapped in the bed...and I asked her why she didn't ask for the bed pan??? She stated...cause I don't like sitting on them things!!!.. I said well how did you manage when you were at home?? She said...I walked then...but I"M A LITTLE SWOLLEN NOW!!! HUH :confused: ??? She had trace generalized edema...was sating 97-98% on 2l/nc. No trauma...full ROM...in all ext!!!

She also would have the nerve to ask you to PULL her up in bed!!! Right!!!

ktwlpn, LPN · Jun 14, 2002

Great thread! I remember fondly 2 families that dropped off Momma at Poppa's bedside every am.In the first case it was a LTC and Momma should have been the patient-she was Alzheimer's-her dtr would leave her all day on the weekends and go shopping,to a wedding,etc and think nothing of it.The old couple shared his meals-he(the resident)cleaned her when she was incontinent.The dtr must have confused our LTC with adult day care...The doc had to call the family and settle this one....The second pt was a retired doc-CTD and his family had gone against his stated wishes at every turn(this is Pa)His dtr dropped off Mother every am and went on to work-and Mother was older then God-I have since lost track of how many times we threw Mother into a wheelchair and ran her to the ED with CP.And babies crying and crawling on the dirty floors-(why not let them hang from the sharps boxes on the wall?) And roomsful of raucous visitors feuding with the other sick pts family.....I am in LTC now and really only have 3 butthead family members that visit regularly-but why do these people think it is OK to treat nursing staff like idiot slaves? I have seen co-workers and have on occassion myself been spoken to in such a rude manner-no one would talk to their darn automechanic in this way-it's ok to do it to me?I try to show to a few of them that certain behavior is not acceptable-if I am busy with someones loved one don't interrupt me-I am sure you would not want me to neglect your loved one if I were working with them and someone else interrupted their care.....Some folks are the stars of the show-The all " ME "show- All Me all the time.......they just don't get it.....but they do break up the monotony

gr8nurse4u · Jun 14, 2002

Originally posted by Shandy12
And the patient who is "well-connected" and thinks that playing bridge with the administrator's wife immediately gives her special status.
Lynda

This reminds me .....

I work in a hospital where they actually use "VIP" rooms. When I first heard about it ... I was appalled.

(me) "Do you mean to tell me that because this is Mr. SoAndSo from the hospital board that I get to place him in the VIP suite, cater to his every whim IMMEDIATELY no matter how insignificant or low priority, while placing all of my other (sicker) patients on the back burner?"

Isn't this way of thinking a little out-dated? Management has made it clear that this is what is expected for their chosen VIP's. Thankfully, our nurse manager occasionally takes care of them personally. It just doesn't seem right to me. This line of thinking goes against every nursing grain in my body.

Comments anyone?

live4today, RN · Jun 14, 2002

originally posted by gr8nurse4u

this reminds me .....

i work in a hospital where they actually use "vip" rooms. when i first heard about it ... i was appalled.

(me) "do you mean to tell me that because this is mr. soandso from the hospital board that i get to place him in the vip suite, cater to his every whim immediately no matter how insignificant or low priority, while placing all of my other (sicker) patients on the back burner?"

isn't this way of thinking a little out-dated? management has made it clear that this is what is expected for their chosen vip's. thankfully, our nurse manager occasionally takes care of them personally. it just doesn't seem right to me. this line of thinking goes against every nursing grain in my body.

comments anyone?

actually, i worked on a vip unit once at the umc-charleston, sc where patients were treated like royalty. the vip unit was the tenth floor of the medical center. as soon as the elevator doors opened up, the atmosphere was much like a very expensive hotel with a concierge to boot! heck...i could have checked into that medical center on the vip unit and felt like i had gone on vacation for some serious r&r it was so nice. :rolleyes: :chuckle

i did feel sorry for the patients on the other floors as their accomodations weren't so fancy. as a matter of fact, the other floors sucked big time! old equipment, junky hallways, noisy atmosphere, typical hospital floors, etc. hard to believe that one floor made the others look like hobo city.

gr8nurse4u · Jun 14, 2002

I'm trying to picture myself as one of those VIP's. How in the H*** do I justify grand accomodations for myself as a patient. Sure it's nice for me, but I'm in the business of getting repeat customers. If I stick a patient on one of those floors that isn't quite so grand ... will they return to our hospital when their child/mother/father/etc. needs care? Wouldn't the hospital benefit more by putting some of the money used for our VIP accomodations into improving the "poorer" units?

You also have to wonder if the VIP's are doing such a good job running the hospital .... why the "regular" floors are not good enough for them.

LOL. I can picture the VIP's all hospitalized in their own little Hilton on the top floor with all floors below vacant because they weren't willing to make the sacrifice.

aj1973 · Jun 14, 2002

Hehe, this thread is cracking me up...and it's all so true. I've met all of these patients and then some in 4 years of ortho nursing. I love the young guys who are5 min back on the ward from surgery and want to go for a smoke. Lots of nurses argue with them 'til they are blue in the face, but I just say "go ahead", and then have a little giggle when they come back looking decidedly green and telling me they threw up in a rubbish bin outside:rotfl: Now, I too am a smoker, but I'm sure I wouldn't want one straight after anaesthetic!!

yes, I too have had lots of guys ask me to hold their urinal for them, but there has got to be a point where you draw the line at your 'nursing duties':chuckle I also refuse to wipe the rear ends of lazy overweight women, I've made a couple of post-op hips cry telling them that, but hey, who's gonna wipe your ass for you at home sweetheart?

It really makes you wonder sometimes doesn't it? :rolleyes:

OBNURSEHEATHER · Jun 14, 2002

Originally posted by gr8nurse4u
LOL. I can picture the VIP's all hospitalized in their own little Hilton on the top floor with all floors below vacant because they weren't willing to make the sacrifice.

My hospital has a unit like this on the top floor. Reserved for hospital big wigs, local celebrities, and newsworthy patients.

Of course, it shares a floor with psych, and I think that's soooo appropriate!

Heather

catlady, BSN, RN · Jun 14, 2002

Originally posted by aj1973
I also refuse to wipe the rear ends of lazy overweight women, I've made a couple of post-op hips cry telling them that, but hey, who's gonna wipe your ass for you at home sweetheart?
It really makes you wonder sometimes doesn't it?

Yes, it makes me wonder why you bothered to go into nursing, since you apparently haven't got the compassion of a gnat.

Peeps Mcarthur · Jun 14, 2002

VIP services are the invention of corporate america.

Call something VIP and that insulates you from "those" people.

They try and try, but they just can't seem to make healthcare elitest enough:rolleyes: ....................If it just wasn't for all those needy people and thier prolonged illnesses(and thier lawyers) this hospital gig would be sweet!

How about a VIP hospital. It could be nestled atop an ivory monolith. It would be staffed by the corporate Kiss-As*es that came up with it in the first place.

It would lock from the outside of course.

zudy · Jun 14, 2002

The hospital I used to work in had a VIP "policy" . There was actually a list of people that were on it, and thay would CALL administration before they would come into the ER they we would BE PREPARED for an incoming VIP. A suit would then actually WALK down to the ER ( the only time they would set foot in our unit ) to let us know that a VIP was about to arrive and grace our precence! The suit would always walk around and tell us that a VIP was coming in so we could be "ready". I always told the suit the same thing, " Oh, that's OK, you don't need to tell us about this pt because in our ER, ALL the pts are very important people!!! I never got any response but a blank stare. :rolleyes: Thank God those idiots at least know they are too stupid to do pt care.

PhantomRN · Jun 14, 2002

Yep the ones that drive me crazy:

Can you fix my bed....as I stand here and not only watch but tell you how to do it.

Can you fluff my pillow and tuck me in......while the family members are standing there telling the patient "that is what nurses are for."

It has been exactly 4 hours on the dot, since the last pain med....so guess who is on the bell.

RNforLongTime · Jun 14, 2002

Originally posted by gr8nurse4u

This reminds me .....

I work in a hospital where they actually use "VIP" rooms. When I first heard about it ... I was appalled.

(me) "Do you mean to tell me that because this is Mr. SoAndSo from the hospital board that I get to place him in the VIP suite, cater to his every whim IMMEDIATELY no matter how insignificant or low priority, while placing all of my other (sicker) patients on the back burner?"

Isn't this way of thinking a little out-dated? Management has made it clear that this is what is expected for their chosen VIP's. Thankfully, our nurse manager occasionally takes care of them personally. It just doesn't seem right to me. This line of thinking goes against every nursing grain in my body.

Comments anyone?

You wouldn't happen to work at the Cleveland Clinic would you? They get Saudi Arabian princes coming in for whatever top of the line treatment. As these people have $$$$$ and no insurance then the Clinic gets paid the big bucks. They will close down an entire floor for ONE Saudi Arabian oil King!!! Plus these pt's give the nurses really expensive gifts! I heard one gave the staff Rolex watches!

At my hospital, had a pt demand to leave AMA! But the family member refused to pick him up! I called the On Call MD about this and he said (while laughing), "oh, so this is a hotel now. Make sure you turn his bed down and put a chocolate on his pillow!" Yeah, like the hospital has THAT kind of money!

Have had pt's stay for weeks, such as the one I mentioned in an earlier post, he's still there, the doc switched the antibiotic BACK to IV! So the wife got her way!! His wife has had her mail forwarded to the hospital!!! He's been there over a month now!

Another has his own private caregiver, a very wealthy patient he is, family wants to make sure that the staff is doing our job!!! He's been in the hospital for over 3 weeks!! I mean. come on, this is a hospital, not a respite home for the aged!!!!